Another year, another Comic Con. Once again there are the elaborate booths and displays, the massive crowds, the famous celebrities, and the amazing costumes. Kevin and Heather Yong and I drove to convention center early Wednesday morning to set up. Set up went smoothly with the CCAS material arriving to our table in a timely fashion. Though the length of the table was the same as last year, the width was notably shorter, giving us a smaller area to display. And the price will increase next year for the same table area. With the smaller table, this made things a little cramp with our neighbors.
There was a lot of new material from Christian publishers this year. The Voice of Martyrs produced Hope Amid Horror by Ken Raney, Ben Avery, and Rob Woodrum; Art Ayris and Kingstone Media had 2048, Babylon, The Beginning, The Christ, Elijah, Exodus, Martyrs, Moses, and Revelation; New Creation Now featured the New Vision Anthology and the long awaited Ragged Capes; Kurt Kolka was there for his first San Diego Comic Con with his Cardinal Special Edition #1; Lamppost debuted their black and white anthology, Toned; Headpress Publishing produced its fourth installment of the Eyewitness series, Dan Conner showed off his Heaven Forbid book; Clint Johnson brought his Faithwalker Victorious; and Lisa Hutchinson had her graphic novel, Shelter of Wings. David C. Cook sent promotional giveaways and a framed print to be raffled off for its Action Bible by Sergio Cariello. Plus there were the old favorites like Serenity by Buzz Dixon and Proverbs and Parables. The CCAS also had thousands of tracts by Jack Chick, Foursquare Mission Press, and ROX35.
With that much material, the CCAS had to stuff all that into a smaller display area. After the set-up there was some time to have lunch and relax before the Wednesday Preview Night. The Preview night boasted just as large of crowds as during the regular days. The Exhibit Hall was scheduled to open up to the attendees an hour earlier (9:00am) than last year, but they usually opened the hall a half an hour earlier (8:30am) than what they had printed on the official schedule. And the hoards of fans would come running through the hall to be the first in line for products at their favorite exhibitor.
The CCAS established good relations with our Small Press neighbors and that would prove to have a positive impact for Christ later. The controversial Westboro Baptist Church was scheduled to picket the Con on Thursday for 45 minutes. The Con has been around for over 40 years and Phelps group was there for only 45 minutes, with only 5-6 people. One attendee described it as drive-by protest. The CCAS is at the Con the entire 5 days from opening until closing making connections with the people there. I told our neighbors across the aisle how one year a child of one of the attendees wanted the free candy we offered from our table. When the attendee saw our sign she told her daughter, “We don’t take candy from THOSE PEOPLE.” Later that day, Jessica, our neighbor across the aisle related to me that one of the visitors at her table said to her, “How can you be across the aisle from THEM!” She responded, “What do you mean?” The person replied, “You know…THEM!” She noted that we were cool, in which the person said, “THEY start out small, next thing you know they’re trying to convert you.” When I told this story to Kurt Kolka, he immediately thought of the sci fi movie, “THEM” a story about giant ants. From there we digressed as only comic book geeks can.
The activity at the table was very consistent throughout the entire convention. There was very little down time at the table. People picked up the thousands of the tracts the CCAS made available over the five day period. Sales were exceptional, some of the best in the CCAS 15 year history at the Con. One person took a whole row of Jack Chick tracts to pass out among the attendees. Even though the CCAS has been there 15 years, there were still veteran attendees who came up to us saying, “I didn’t know there was a Christian Comics table.”
Then there were the panels. Due to a Comic Con oversight, they had not scheduled the CCAS for any panels and as a result, all the rooms in the convention center were booked up. Unfortunately, the CCAS panels were placed in the Marriot hotel next door. The rooms had poor lighting and they were smaller. Because of the change, one of our panelist for the Spiritual Themes in Comics was not able to attend. For the after hours meeting, in the past the convention organizers would allow us to stay beyond the scheduled time to have wonderful times of fellowship. This year, they restricted our time in the room to the designated time, so we were not able to have our normal time of fellowship. This was unfortunate because we had the biggest crowd for the after hours mixer ever. However, though I was not able to attend, I heard that the Sunday meeting of the CCAS with Buzz Dixon, Eric Jansen, and Sergio Cariello was outstanding. Hopefully, someone who attended the meeting will be able to give a more detailed report.
Sunday was just as busy as any of the previous days. One of neighbors across the aisle was going to leave earlier that afternoon. I approached them and asked would they mind if I prayed for their safety as they travel home. They were more than willing to receive prayer and I believe that it was an open door for the Holy Spirit to minister to their hearts. The Lord brought many people to the table and I see our time at this Con as being very successful. The break down also went smoothly, the lack of the four wheel dolly stretched out the time a little more. As usual, it takes a couple of days to recover after five days of Comic Con. Overall, it was an outstanding time, but I look forward to the break. Thanks must go out to the usual crew such as Kevin and Heather Yong, Buzz Dixon, Scott Shuford, and Holly Knevelbaard. Special thanks goes to Dan Connor and Leslie Ezeh, new to the CCAS table this year, whose help was invaluable. Without the Lord, none of this would be possible. It is He who is at work in us to both will and do of His good pleasure. Continue to pray for the CCAS as we endeavor to expand its prescence at these conventions.
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